In This Issue

3rd Annual HAZUS Conference: Connecting the Pieces for Mitigation

2009 HAZUS-MH Program Awards

HAZUS-MH Conference Map Gallery

HAZUS User Group Updates

2010 4th Annual HAZUS-MH Conference Save the Date

HAZUS-MH MR4 Patch 1 and Comprehensive Data Management System (CDMS) v2.5 Released

Guidelines for the Implementation of Essential Facilities Risk Assessments Using HAZUS-MH

Contact Information

This year’s HAZUS-MH Conference, held August 10-12, 2009 at the North Carolina State University Jane S. McKimmon Center, was a tremendous success. This was the first year that the HAZUS-MH Conference was not held in conjunction with the ESRI Conference and participation was strong from across the country. Two hundred HAZUS-MH users from thirty-two different states, including the District of Columbia, and Canada joined with forty-one speakers for the three-day conference.

The conference included fourteen different sessions. The conference began with three sessions that featured the new RiskMAP program. David Montague, ABS Consulting, was the moderator for the first session about the RiskMAP Pilot Studies that took place in Southern California. The session covered, in depth, inventory database enhancements for these pilot studies and, critical success factors for all HAZUS-MH flood projects. Then Doug Bellomo, FEMA Headquarters, gave a presentation titled “Embracing RiskMAP.” He emphasized that HAZUS-MH is an integral part of the RiskMAP project. And he examined the role of HAZUS-MH in the implementation of RiskMAP and how as HAZUS-MH users we can participate in the larger RiskMAP project.

The second day of the conference participants chose between technical and non-technical sessions. Some highlights from the second day included Shanna Michael demonstrating how the AECOM team was able to run the entire National Flood Hazard Layer thru HAZUS-MH in approximately 6 weeks using an internally developed tool. Melissa Berry, South Carolina Emergency Management Division, Richard Butgereit, Florida Division of Emergency Management,

Ron Ernest, PBS&J and Margaret Griffith, PBS&J, teamed up to demonstrate how both Florida and South Carolina have successfully incorporated the CDMS tool into their HAZUS projects. After lunch, Mourad Bouhafs, PBS&J, David Montague, ABS Consulting and Phillip Schneider, NIBS gave a presentation about the future of HAZUS-MH technology.

The third day of the conference featured two keynote speakers, John Pine, Director, Research Institute for Environment, Energy and Economics, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC and Gavin Smith, University of North Carolina, Center for the Study of Natural Hazards and Disasters, Chapel Hill, NC. In the afternoon Kevin Mickey, The Polis Center, and Tracy Toutant, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency taught a CDMS Workshop. This workshop focused on how to enhance the HAZUS-MH supplied inventory with locally developed data.

For more information about the conference please visit the www.fema.gov website to view the conference proceedings.

October 2009 Issue

HOT ZONE3rd Annual HAZUS Conference

3rd Annual HAZUS Conference

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2009 HAZUS-MH PROGRAM AWARDSEric Berman, HAZUS Program Manager for the FEMA Mitigation Division was pleased to present HAZUS User Awards at the 2009 HAZUS-MH Annual User Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina. The awards are utilized to exemplify the outstanding work of organizations and individuals who have accelerated the awareness and use of the HAZUS program. The awards were presented at a special Awards Presentation in conjunction with the Keynote Speaker presentations on August 12, 2009. Congratulations to each of these winners.

3rd Quarter HAZUS User of the Year • Michael Scott, Salisbury University

Innovative Applications of HAZUS Earthquake Award • Stuart Moffatt, University of Utah and EmCode.org

Innovative Applications of HAZUS Flood Award • Shane Hubbard, University of Iowa

Innovative Applications of HAZUS Wind Award • Rick Zyvoloski, Collier County, Florida

HAZUS User Group Leadership Award • Richard Butgereit, Florida HAZUS User Group

(FLHUG)

Best HAZUS Higher Education Resources Clearinghouse (HERC) Award• Robert Freitag, Cascadia Regional

Earthquake Workgroup (CREW)

HAZUS Technical Expertise Award • Douglas Bausch, FEMA Region VIII

HAZUS Outreach Award • Nicholas Delmedico, FEMA Region X

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This year’s HAZUS-MH Conference featured a Map Gallery. This was an opportunity for HAZUS-MH users nationwide to have their maps on display during the whole three-day conference. Map submissions came from all ten FEMA regions and included a wide range of projects. Conference participants had the opportunity to view the maps, with an attached abstract, and then vote on their favorites. Below is a list of the winners. Each of their maps can also be viewed in the HAZUS Conference Proceedings.

Best Mitigation Applications Using HAZUS-MH Sugar House Earthquake Mitigation Return on Investmentdesigned by Stuart Moffatt, EmCODE.org, Silver Spring, MD.

Best Practice for Data Improvements to HAZUS-MH (Level 2 or 3 Analyses)Implementing FEMA’s Risk Map Strategy in Miles City, Montana designed by Jesse Rozelle and Jennifer Goldsmith, FEMA Region VIII Mitigation.

Best Practice for Incorporating Modernized Flood Maps Wisconsin Statewide Flood Risk Assessment designed by Tom McClintock, UW Madison LICGF.

Best Incorporation of a HAZUS-MH Analysis into a Mitigation Plan Using HAZUS-MH for Post-Disaster Redevelopment Planning designed by Eric Coughlin GISP, CFM, PBS&J, Raleigh, North Carolina and Nathan Slaughter AICP, CFM, PBS&J, Raleigh, North Carolina

Best Innovative Practice of HAZUS-MH Validating the HAZUS-MH Coastal Flood Model in Mississippi designed by Herbert E. “Gene” Longenecker III, FEMA Region IV, Atlanta, GA.

Best Multi-Hazard Analysis Near-Real Time Earthquake Risk Analysis Using HAZUS and High-Res Shakemap for Seatle designed by:

• Fabia Terra Senior Staff Seismologist and Ivan Wong Principal Seismologist, Seismic Hazards group, URS Corporation • Douglas Bausch Senior Physical Scientist and Jesse Rozelle, GIS Specialist, FEMA Region VIII Mitigation • Crawford, G., Washington State Emergency Management Division • Malone, S. Hartog, R., Steele, B., Vidale, J., Boding, P., and Weaver, C., University of Washington, Department of Earth and Space Sciences • Gomberg, J., United States Geological Survey • Wald, D., United States Geological Survey

Best Integration of Other Tools with HAZUS-MH Pathways-DM: A Framework for Integrated Risk Assessment of Natural Hazard Threats in Canada designed by Murray Journeay and Nick Hastings, Earth Sciences Sector, Natural Resources Canada.

HAZUS-MH Conference Map Gallery

HAZUS User Group UpdatesSince May, 2009 Region IV HAZUS User Groups have shown increased activity with regular monthly or bi-monthly calls in South Carolina, North Carolina and Florida. Membership is stable or growing and formal HUG groups are going active in Alabama and Mississippi. With the disaster in Georgia FEMA Region IV expects a new HUG to form before the JFO closes. Kentucky is pushing for HAZUS training and a new active KYHUG will help close the deal.

The NCHUG had a successful first in-person meeting at the National HAZUS Conference in August. The NCHUG membership is growing (28 active members). They have representation from all geographic regions of the state: coastal plain, piedmont and mountains. The NCHUG represents a diverse group of organizations with members from NC EM, NC DENR, USMC, Appalachian State, Eastern Carolina University, Wake County EM, numerous county and local governments and private firms. A major goal for the NCHUG is to facilitate regional training. The NCHUG is working with FEMA, ECU and Ken Taylor at NC Geological Survey to provide basic HAZUS-MH training and more specialized instruction where needed. Melissa Berry from SCHUG has an expressed an interest in team teaching a course in North Carolina.

The SoCalHUG met in September in a meeting hosted by Philip McCormick, Riverside City Fire OEM. Twenty-eight people attended the meeting and five participated in the web broadcast. Mr. McCormick gave a presentation titled

“Moving up to Level II Data for a Large City – The time and effort involved.”

According to Liz Wojdak, Mr. McCormick’s presentation was an

“awesome display of what HAZUS can do.” Hope Seligson, MMI

Inc, gave a presentation titled “Inventory

Database

Enhancements in FEMA’s Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino County HAZUS Pilot Studies.” This study has been published and is available on the FEMA.gov Library. Michael McDaniel, City of El Segundo, gave a presentation titled “Free HAZUS Training at EMI – Do’s and Don’ts.” Liz Wojdak gave a presentation about the Great California Shakeout. According to Liz, the Shakeout event may be national in several years. Jim Woods volunteered to co-lead the SoCalHUG with Liz Wojdak. The next SoCalHUG meeting will be held in Ontario, CA in February 2010. For more information on the SoCalHUG and to view the presentations from their meeting you can visit their website at http://www.hazus.org/SoCalHUG/index.html.

FEMA hosts two National HAZUS User Group conference calls each month. One call is designed for the leaders of the HUGs and the other is open to all HUG participants and features a specific topic or speaker. The September Topic Specific Call featured Jon Nystrom, FEMA Account Manager, ESRI, talking about how ESRI supports the HAZUS project. Jon emphasized that ESRI primarily supports the HAZUS-MH developers and they do this in several ways. They hold an annual meeting with the developers in Redlands, CA, they provide phone support to the HAZUS-MH developers, and they provide beta access to ESRI products. In addition, ESRI offers 500-1000 evaluation disks with sixty-day licenses for FEMA to distribute with HAZUS-MH. They have worked with Kevin Mickey and FEMA to create eight virtual HAZUS-MH courses and they maintain HAZUS-MH information on the ESRI website. For more information on the National HUG Calls visit http://www.usehazus.com/hugs/calls.

The HAZUS-MH Award Program continues and we need your input. Please consider nominating someone for the HAZUS User of the Year award. You can download a nomination form at http://www.usehazus.com/news/users.

Save the Date2010 4th Annual HAZUS-MH ConferenceAugust 23-25, 2010Indianapolis, Indiana

One of the maps from the Map Gallery

Nick Delmedico accepting his HAZUS award presented by David Maurstad, former Assistant Administrator of Migitation Directorate at FEMA and currently a National Business Sector Manager at PBS&J.

The latest version of HAZUS-MH is now available. Features include updated schools and transportation data. Improvements to the Flood Model now provide dam/levee analysis capability, the ability to distinguish pre- and post-FIRM census blocks, as well as many other upgrades. The Earthquake Model includes the latest version of probabilistic maps from the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Hurricane Model now permits the creation of a study region using a hurricane track.

www.fema.gov/plan/prevent/hazus

Contact InformationHAZUS Program ManagerEric Berman, FEMAeric.berman@dhs.gov

HAZUS OutreachVincent Brown, FEMAvincent.brown@dhs.gov

Beth Miller Howser, PBS&Jbmhowser@pbsj.com

Jamie Caplan , Jamie Caplan Consulting, LLCjamie@jamiecaplan.com

HAZUS TrainingVincent Brown, FEMAvincent.brown@dhs.gov

HAZUS DevelopmentMourad Bouhafsmbouhafs@pbsj.com

4HAZUS® and HAZUS-MH® are trademarks of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

HAZUS-MH MR4 Patch 1 and Comprehensive Data Management System (CDMS) v2.5 Released

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) sponsored a pilot project to perform a risk assessment of essential facilities using its HAZUS-MH. The objective of the pilot project was to demonstrate the synergy between HAZUS-MH and FEMA’s Map Modernization program to update Digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps (DFIRMs) for three Southern California counties (Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino) and to illustrate the types of information HAZUS-MH can generate for hazard mitigation planning. In the pilot, HAZUS-MH was used to estimate the impact of two different earthquakes and three different riverine floods on each county’s infrastructure, including both regional building inventories (referred to within HAZUS-MH as the “general building stock”) and essential facilities. In addition, the impacts of a tsunami hitting the Orange County coastline were examined. The results of these risk assessments were documented in three separate reports FEMA library at http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=3804.

Guidelines for the Implementation of Essential Facilities Risk Assessments Using HAZUS—MH

Storm Surge Model is currently being developed and coming in 2010!